“Supercharging” faith for 20 years

As Year 13 celebrates its 20th birthday this year, there is rejoicing at the number of students who have taken a gap year to get equipped for life and strengthen their spiritual foundations.

Since beginning with 16 students in 2006, over 1200 young people have been through the program. It has grown from one close-knit class to up to four streams of students in some years, with cohort numbers occasionally hitting triple digits.

Gap years are not uncommon, and have increased in popularity over the past 20 years. Youthworks wanted to provide an option that offered practical ministry training, quality time for thinking theologically, and guidance and support as young people stepped out of the school environment and into adulthood.

When Year 13 first began its inaugural director, the Rev Jodie McNeill, said: “We wanted to create a year of fun and adventure, but also give the students plenty to think about and lots of creative ways to minister. It’s a year ‘on’, not a year ‘off’!”

The Rev Steve Carlisle spent many years sending youth from his churches before coming on board as the current director.

“It’s a way of supercharging [young people’s] faith,” he says. “Not everyone who does Year 13 will go into ministry… but everyone will be supercharged in their faith. As a senior minister and youth minister, it was always something I loved to support. When I got the call to come [and be director], it was a fairly simple decision to bless many churches by helping their young people grow.”

Local and global service

This year also marked Year 13’s sixteenth trip to Fiji. It’s a long-term partnership where students serve alongside and learn from their Fijian brothers and sisters in faith.

The trip to Fiji is an integral part of the Year 13 experience, allowing students to solidify their theological studies in a practical way, as well as lifting their eyes to see different contexts where the gospel is proclaimed. They undertake a number of ministry and serving opportunities and spend a portion of their time living in local villages, hosted by families in the community.

“We are directed by the Fijian church as to what the shape of the trip looks like,” Mr Carlisle says.

“We go as their guests and partner with them. We work with them and want them to promote the ministry. Some of the villages [where we stay] have changed [over time], but it is wonderful to see the growth of the ministry there and their generosity to us.”

When Elizabeth Vidilini first went on the Fiji trip seven years ago as a Year 13 student , she didn’t imagine she would return multiple times as a leader. Every time she returns, she has the joy of observing how current Year 13 students grow and change, and also finds herself humbled and shaped by the Fijian church and God’s work globally.

“Going on a short-term trip brings with it so many great experiences, but with these come the temptation of feeling like it’s us at work and not God,” she says. “[One year], our local team didn’t get the opportunity to do as much ministry as they would have liked. This helped us to stop and reflect, as a team, on the fact that God is working for his glory and we have the blessing and joy of being part of that.”

The next 20 years

Reflecting on the amazing things God has done over the past two decades, Mr Carlisle prays that the next two will be a continuation and strengthening of growth and service.

“For me, what’s important is that we continue to serve churches, both in our Diocese and further afield,” he says. “Year 13 doesn’t exist for its own sake – we exist to serve churches. The goal is to raise up supercharged disciples of Jesus for whatever ministry.

“My experience as a former senior minister and youth minister in different places gives me a unique perspective. I hope that, in ways Year 13 hasn’t even discovered yet, we might be a service to churches everywhere. That’s my heart and my goal.

“To that end, nothing will change. We want to keep getting people under the sound word of God and in fellowship together. That’s where God does his work. We want to tighten relationships between churches and Year 13, so that we can serve them and their young people thoroughly.”

PRAY

Give thanks for 20 years of Year 13! For all those who have been involved in some way, for those who have participated as students, and for the churches and ministries that have been blessed through the training and education Year 13 provides.

Pray Year 13 will continue to develop trust with ministers, parishes and parents and that through faithful Bible teaching to students, they will serve them and complement the work that they are already doing.

Pray that Year 13 students will be supported and strengthened, both by churches and Youthworks, in this time of transition from school to the next part of life.